Humanity Rising - Phoenix Reborn

by Dr1ft3r0I

The world has fallen to ruin, despite its new shine. And from the ashes swept under the rug, perhaps a little hope can emerge from the darkness. Rated M for descriptions of war and violence. After all, it's XCOM baby!

10. Early Light, Pt 2

Early Light, Pt. 2

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"I am not a hero but the brave men who died deserved this honor."

Ira Hayes, United States Marine Corps

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Private Kyle Fitzgerald stared in awe at the weapon he was seeing through his helmets low light setting. It was a gun, but it wasn't just any gun. It was a big Fucking GUN. Taking it in his hands, Fitz grunted as he hefted the unusually heavy weapon out of its rack. "Damn, this thing is fucking heavy!" he griped to Harris. "The hell kind of bullet you think this shoots anyway?" Harris tapped the nearest ammunition crate.

"According the box here, says it fires an eight by fifty-two millimeter round," Harris commented, reading the label. "Jesus, what did they think they were going to shoot, fucking bears?" Off in the next room, Vegilla laughed.

"Please, you've seen Ellisif, right?" he asked, drawing friendly laughs of agreement out. "She's built like a damn tank! Maybe they designed those rounds for use on Berserkers?" Vegilla picked up a small device of a table and turned it over, curious. "Not that it probably would have helped, I mean, Ellisif moves fast for a girl her size."

"Yeah, just don't say that around her!" Harris joked as he picked up an old XCOM assault rifle. "Huh, I got a 'Rifle, Caliber 6.5mm, X-9,'" he recited aloud. "Must've been what their guys were using back in the day, it looks bulky as fuck."

"Bill, they're ALL bulky as fuck," Vegilla commented as he continued to fiddle with his new doodad. "Like this thing. I mean, what the hell is it supposed to –" He flipped a switch, and suddenly, the display on it flickered to life in a burst of green static. "Okay, uh, I got something that works!" he said, watching the screen intently. The other soldiers all burst into the storeroom excitedly, and Vegilla's eyes widened in surprise at the monitor. "Holy shit, the damn thing's a motion tracker!"

"Really?" Dantalian asked, her tone almost puppy like in its curiosity. "That's really fucking shiny!" Vegilla was about to agree when Command Sergeant Major Hopkins' voice came over the radio in broken bursts.

"All…everyth-…all back to t-… Every… ass back to th-" Hopkins cried out desperately. Vegilla looked up to the helmets of the other soldiers before the base's emergency lights finally flickered on, casting everything in an eerie blue haze.

"We've got readings!" Harris cried out, pointing to the motion tracker. Vegilla looked down, and saw with shock that besides the four dots at the center showing himself and the others, there were four others appearing from their twelve o'clock position. But what drew their attention was the massive swarm of blips starting to form at their two o'clock. "Veggie, what do we do?" Harris asked, gripping the XM9 tightly in his hands.

Vegilla gulped as he made his way to the stairs. "F-fall back," he murmured, keeping an eye on the tracker. "Fall back to the lift," he repeated more confidently. Taking his cue, the others followed him, almost running right into Hopkins. "Old Dog, what's-"

"We're getting the fuck out of here!" Hopkins declared, sounding… scared? No, that couldn't be, nothing scared CSM Hopkins! "Come on, back to the lift, NOW!" he shouted, shoving Vegilla forwards. At least, that was until they all heard the distinctive sounds of magnetic and plasma weapons fire. "Winters, report!" Hopkins asked, dashing forward with everyone in tow. Vegilla noted with growing horror that as they approached the hanger bays, the four blips that HAD to be Winters and her troops were coming towards them… along with another, even more massive blot of white coming in from the side.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK, THEY'RE COMING OUT OF THE FUCKING WALLS!" Winters yelled, her voice echoing slightly over the din of the discharging weapons. They all managed to reach the hanger just in time to see just what it was attacking them. They were man sized, but that was the extent of it. They were effectively the demented bastard child of a crab, and pure nightmare. And it wasn't just one.

It was a black shelled and voracious horde.

"OPEN UP!" Hopkins ordered, bringing his MAG rifle to bear. As one, the rest of them did so as well, and they unleashed jacketed lead hell on the creatures. Fitz braced himself before firing his new gun, but the kick still damn near knocked him on his ass as the LMG thundered. "Winters, to the lift, now!" Hopkins barked, his rifle spitting out lead like mad into the monsters. "We are LEAVING!"

Well shit, Vegilla thought as his rifle bucked into his shoulder, That's an order I can get behind right now! Hearing his rifle click empty, he quickly tapped the eject button on the side of his weapons. "Changing mags!" he cried out, pulled out the next magazine off his belt. Beside him, Dantalian focused her fire on one of the bugs, the 9.5mm slugs slamming into the chitin, throwing bits of it off as it charged forward, screaming. Before them, Kekana was struggling to reload his own weapon as the bug practically stopped right in front of him.

It grabbed him with a pair of clab-like claws, the serrated edges cutting through his armor with astonishing ease as it brought the poor soldier closer to its mouth, spittle flying out. "BERK!" Winters shouted, her rifle switching from the horde in front of her to the monster holding her teammate in its claws. But she was too slow, as the thing simply bite down onto Kekana, it's maw virtually swallowing all of his right shoulder and neck before throwing him down to the ground harshly.

Winters went, quite simply in Vegilla's opinion, batshit. "FUCKER!" she screeched as she poured what was left of her weapon's magazine into the creature, the bullets finally tearing its head off as Kekana began hyperventilating in shock. Winters went to grab her teammate and drag him to safety before she was stopped, but not by Hopkins or any of the other soldiers.

Winters looked down dumbly at the claw that was currently cutting into thigh as her femoral artery was severed. She managed to turn around and see the horde descend upon her before serrated mandible and claw cut into her with ravenous hunger.

"Dantalian, toss a damn charge in that, now!" Hopkins shouted, throwing a grenade into the horde. Vegilla simply backpedalled as Kekana's prone form was swallowed by chittering blackness. The young soldier shakily pulled out a detonation charge and armed it. Glancing at the barely visible form of Kekana's rapidly devoured corpse, she chucked the bomb as hard as she could as Rourke and Lupa ducked behind the cover of the access lift's archway. The device went off a teeth-rattling shudder as the fireball engulfed the monsters.

"Black, connect me with Oddball, now!" Hopkins shouted, the sounds of the next wave of horrors echoing through the halls. All Vegilla could think about what how much longer their ammunition was going to hold out.

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Flight Lieutenant Michael 'Oddball' Lynch was getting nervous as he held a holding pattern over the volcano's caldera. He had listened in somewhat to the team's chatter as they entered the facility, and that was well over fifteen minutes ago. Bored, he switched the channel over to his fellow pilot. "Hey Fishcake," Oddball said. "Got anything on your scopes?"

The other pilot was only at the other end of the caldera, closer to the town. "Na, nothin' here," Fishcake replied. "Nothing but cold and… wait a sec, I think I'm seeing something, over." Oddball was about to ask what when all of a sudden, his radio squealed in a burst of harsh static.

"Shit, the fuck was that?!" Oddball cried out as he slapped the side of his flight helmet, only to stop as he saw a blip on his radar. "The fu- okay, that's not normal," he muttered, switching to the all band frequency. "Unknown craft, this is Lieutenant Lynch of the ADVENT Peacekeeper Corps. You are in restricted airspace, divert course or we will fire upon you. This is your only warning," he stated, glancing at his radar every other word. When it had appeared, it was only thirty miles away from him, and only fifteen from Fishcake.

But the moment he finished, the craft accelerated like a bullet, causing Oddball's mouth to go dry. The only craft that moved that fast was…. "Fishcake, descend to Angel one, we've got a bandit inbound hot!" he cried out as he began hearing bits and pieces of everyone's radio traffic. "Fishcake, respond, over!"

"The hell…zzzz…chaff chaff chazzzz….."

"-they're coming out of….walls!"

"Fall…-ack, fa-…."

"Sarge, we're-FUCK!"

Oddball was about to fly back to where he had seen Hopkins' signal go under when he saw a fireball erupt off to his one. On his scope, Fishcake's signal cut out completely, the transponder likely incinerated much the same way that its pilot was. "Chief, strap in!" Oddball ordered as he gripped his controls tightly. "Old Dog, this is Oddball, we've got incoming bandits approaching your location!" he shouted into Hopkins' command channel. "I'm going to try and evade these bastards as best I can, just sit tight!"

"Oddb….ay here, we're…vac from the to…." Hopkins tried to report in, only for the radio to finally cut out in a squeal of static. Oddball's throat suddenly went dry. If his comms were jammed, he couldn't get into contact with Hopkins. If he couldn't get into contact with Hopkins, he couldn't extract those soldiers. And without that damned radio, Base wouldn't know what the hell happened.

"That's it, we're getting the hell out of here," Oddball told his crew chief as he gunned the throttle, sending the dropship rushing forward in a burst of speed normally seen in rapid response interceptions and fighter craft. Already, they had almost crossed over half the caldera, surprising the enemy ship. But apparently their RIO was better, because as Oddball was reaching for the chaff, they attacked.

He reflexively jinked to the right, and the plasma bolt only hit and severed his number one engine and half the left bay door.

Wait, plasma?

"Fuckity fuck fuckface FUCK!" Oddball shouted out in anger as his craft shook about in pain. "Fuck are they fucking trying to fucking kill US for?!" His crew chief remained silent as they were hit again, this time across their ass. "Shit, mayday mayday mayday, this is Deacon Two-Fife-Niner, we are going down, I repeat, this is Deacon Two-Fife-Niner, we are going down! Position is-" He would have continued had he not needed to angle the nose of his rapidly dropping craft up. "Chief, brace for impact!"

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Hopkins was in a panic as he struggled to shut the door on the bugs trying to eat his soldiers. Granted, he had no idea what a twenty foot wide door made of four inch steel would do to stop those things, but he wasn't going to stop to find out. Especially since he had already managed to close it three fourths of the way with Thor's help.

"Come on, heave!" he cried out as Fitz opened up with another burst of fire from his newly acquired LMG. To Hopkins, it was just another XM252 Light Machine Gun that was keeping those things away from the door long enough to get shut. Thor's body quivered as he heaved with all his strength, and the door began sliding the next three feet.

"Frag out!" Harris shouted as pulled the pin off one of his last grenades. Hopkins and Thor paused as the grenade sailed past their heads to land somewhere in the hanger, where not even a moment later, the sounds of pained screeches echoed. "Fuck Sarge, they're almost on us!"

"Tell me something I don't know Private!" Hopkins snapped back as Lupa's cannon began spitting out plasma to help with Fitz's volume of fire. "Hell, where the fuck is Sergeant Edson?! He should've rallied back with us by now!" Thor grunted as he pushed the door forward.

"Who cares, we've almost –" he began saying before one of the bugs suddenly popped in the doorframe. It screeched in triumph as its claw darted forward, catching Thor along the edge of his forearm. Reacting instantly, Hopkins pulled up his rifle, shoved the barrel into the thing's maw, and pulled the trigger. The anti-personnel rounds quickly turned the soft inner workings into pulp as it slumped back with much of its head now missing. Tengu quickly grabbed her friend and dragged him away from the door as Hopkins finally slammed the damned thing shut.

"Tengu, Fitz, slap something on that cut, we still have to get back up to the tram!" Hopkins ordered as he checked his magazine. "Alright, grab whatever incendiary rounds you can from the stores, that door won't last long, not with how those things are acting!" he added. As his remaining soldiers dashed off to grab the munitions, Hopkins switched his radio over to another channel. "Black, can you hear me, over?"

"Barely Sarge!" Black replied. "I'm trying to raise Oddball on the comms, but I'm not getting through at all!And there's something moving down here Sarge, and it ain't us!" Hopkins swore.

"Alright, I want you three to get the hell out of there, try to flag Odd visually!" he ordered. "We're going to find our own way out, and whatever you do, if you see something that ain't us or human at all, smoke it! Copy that?"

"Yeah, I copy that, over!" Black responded. "Guys, we're getting the hell out of here!" Hopkins heard the other two comment in the affirmative and let out a sigh of relief. That feeling of relief froze as he listened to what happened next.

"We got movement in the stairs!"

"Wait a sec, we've got reinforcements!Hey, we're over here, over here!"

"Please, you've got to help us, there's some weird ass shit going on down there, and we need to get the… Elder!"

An Elder? An actual Elder here?! Hopkins' eyes narrowed as he looked up the elevator shaft. Something wasn't right here; why… better yet, how could an Elder know about their situation this fast? They didn't exactly have perfect communications with the outside, not unless….

"Black, get away from the Elder now!" Hopkins shouted into the radio as he gauged the distance up the shaft, eyeing the charge of his jump jets warily. He was certain that Private Black had heard it, but the sounds of plasma fire coming through his radio channel froze him in place as the sudden appearances of Mahonin and Valdez's now black vital signs flashed across his HUD. "Black, respond, that's an order, over!"

The sounds of Black beginning to hyperventilate and struggle were all he could hear as Hopkins slumped on the wall. "No, please, what are you… GYAAAAHHH!STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!GET OUT OF MY HEAD, PLEASE GOD, AAARRGGH!" And with a wet tearing sound, Black's vital signs ceased to exist. Hopkins started trembling as Harris and Vegilla came back with a couple crates of ammunition and a few weapons to actually use them. Taking a step away from the lift, Hopkins finally fell to the ground.

"The tunnel has been compromised," he reported, drawing everyone's attention.

"The fuck we do now then?!" Fitz cried out, about to panic. Thor grunted as he wandered over to Hopkins and clasped his shoulder with his good arm.

"Boss Dog?" Thor asked. "What about the nuke?" Hopkins sighed as he looked up.

"…we're all going to fall back to the missile silo," he said, getting up. "Rawlins, get everyone ready to move in two, and load on those incendiaries as fast as you can," he ordered. "They should still have some proximity mines in the storeroom I can use." Guardian nodded as the NCO ushered everyone into readiness. Hopkins meanwhile shuffled into the storerooms and soon found a trio of older model explosives.

Taking the mines, he prepped each of them and was clinically aware of the soldiers moved off towards the missile silo. Taking the bombs, he took a deep breath and leapt up into the elevator shaft, his jump jets cutting in at every jump up so that the CSM could slap the mines onto the sides of the shaft. Finally, with a resounding thud, he landed back at the bottom… just in time to see the first obsidian claw poke through the steel door to the hanger.

"Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me," Hopkins muttered as he started running for the silo. Wait, the bomb! It wasn't going to work without the damned keys to activate it! Running back to Zander's office, he quickly searched the man's corpse and soon found the small, stainless steel key wrapped around his neck. "Sorry about this sir, but I need this more than you do," he apologized to the former XCOM Commander, slipping the key into a chest pouch before turning back.

A muted boom resounded through the halls.

"Sarge, we're down by the lift to the missile silo," Guardian reported. "We're going down as fast we can, and Rourke and Harris have just told me that there's a giant door next to the silo.What do you want us to do sir?" Hopkins paused as he stopped to grab an X-9.

"Keep Lupa and anyone with an LMG on that door," he ordered as he loaded up before sprinting down the halls. "I'll be there shortly; I just needed to grab the keys for the nuke!"

"Understood Old Dog!We'll keep the way clear, over!"

Hopkins was glad that Guardian was at least taking the initiative to at least keep the others alive. Passing through the old alien containment module, Hopkins heard a low moan coming from his right hand side. "…Edson?" he asked, checking the magazine of his X-9. Checking the corner, he turned and saw Edson standing there by himself, his back turned to him. "Edson? You okay? Where's the rest of your team?"

Edson turned to face him, and Hopkins had to force his instinctive compulsion to recoil in horror as he saw the fetid green pus oozing from the wound on his side. "Sergeant, respond!" Hopkins barked as the rifle snapped up. Edson snarled in response and began shambling towards him, near feral like. "Fuck!" Hopkins swore as he pulled the trigger, the burst of rifle fire tearing through the flimsy protection of the NBC helmet Edson wore to splatter what remained of his skull all along the wall behind him.

Letting the rifle fall free to his chest, Hopkins took a step forward to retrieve Edson's tags before the dead man's chest plate suddenly jerked upwards. "Oh you've got to be fucking SHITTING me!" Hopkins snarled as one of the black-shelled monsters, now currently pale, ripped its way out of Edson's chest, screeching shrilly. Taking aim, Hopkins let loose, the bullets tearing apart the creature with its limbs flying off, spewing a sickly green ichor into the air as it died. "Rawlins, be advised, those things can implant you with its young!" he yelled into his radio as another monster slunk out from a side room. "They're fucking parasites!"

Suddenly, something crashed on top of him. Sprawled on the ground, Hopkins saw his attacker try to bite his face off. Reacting on hardened reflex, he punched the snapping maw away, tucking his head to the side as a claw came crashing down into the steel grating under them. Struggling to keep the thing off of him, Hopkins pulled out his revolver and jammed into a small gap in its side, his barrel meeting soft, fleshy tissue. "Back off!" he snarled, pulling the trigger as fast as he could. In less than two seconds, the monster's torso was messily sawed off by the anti-personnel rounds of the revolver, its guts spilling onto Hopkins' waist.

With a grunt, he threw what remained of the creature off of him, right into the face of the third one. Rolling, he pulled out his tau carbine, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

The bolt of energy pierced it's carapace and dug into the wall behind, leaving a smoking, red hot hole where it had entered both the alien and the wall. Panting, Hopkins slung his carbine away as he crabwalked over to the fallen X-9 and retrieved it. Shaking his head, Hopkins looked down and groaned in annoyance at the mess of bug guts on his chest armor. "Shit's going to stain for sure," he griped as he continued on to the missile silo. Finally reaching the lift, he saw Guardian and Fitz standing at the lift's entrance, waiting for him with their LMGs at the ready. "Everyone down?"

"Yes Boss," Guardian replied with a nod before doing a double take. "Uh, what the hell-"

"Close encounter I'd rather not have again," Hopkins commented before shoving the two of them onto the lift. "Now come on, those bugs were starting to cut through the door when I left, no idea how long till they reach us!" The other two soldiers nodded as they covered the door, leaving Hopkins to hit the button down. The lift slowly went down, its gears and pulleys creaking from years of disuse.

The moment the lift hit the floor, Hopkins was out and heading straight for the silo. Passing by Tengu, who was doing her best to give Thor some of his arm ability back, and Vegilla who was checking his motion tracker, Hopkins practically jumped up the stairs to the silo controls and quickly found the control console. "Wow, thank the Elders for small mercies, right?" Harris asked from behind Hopkins as he slid Zander's key right beside the other one.

"Yeah, now we just need to find the…," Hopkins began, something catching his eye. Turning, the Sergeant Major swore violently as Harris looked on in stunned silence. "Bomb. Fuck, this just is not my fucking day, is it?!" Furious, Hopkins went over and dead lifted the gutted carcass of the former nuclear bomb, tossing it aside.

"Sarge, what's going on up there?" Thor asked over the radio. Silently, Hopkins gestured for Harris to follow him as he went back downstairs. Once he saw all the survivors assembled, he pointed back behind him.

"Nuke's busted," he said flatly. "Without the material, we can't wipe this facility off the map, and the bugs with it. All the other missiles don't have the umph to do the job." He paused, wondering just how he was going to say this.

"The Elders… I think have led us into a trap of some kind." At their stunned faces, Hopkins continued. "I think that they were after Commander Harrington; with the way the kid's been getting victories in the past year, both on the field and in the political arena, I'm almost certain that the fuckers panicked, and tried to give him this mission, hoping that his hatred of XCOM would let him take personal responsibility for the success of this op.

"Instead, the kid sent me. And I'm sorry."

The soldiers all looked at each other, confused. "What do you mean?" Lupa asked, the Hound's cannon still pointed at the access lift. "What are you sorry for?"

Hopkins pointed at all of them. "When we came in here, I had seventeen of you. I see nine," he told her, and by extension, everyone else. "I didn't see the signs, and as a result, we are stuck in a hole, trapped, by vicious man-eating monster bugs and an Elder led kill team that most likely slaughtered Corporal Valdez, Private Mahonin, and Private Black. I. Failed. You. Happy?"

They were silent for a moment as they processed the blunt admission from their leader before Lupa growled and stood up. "Sergeant Hopkins, because of your actions, I am alive today," she told him harshly. "I will not allow you to wallow in self-pity just because you made a mistake! Now, there must be some reason those things are here! Perhaps a way to wipe them out in mass with the nuke! And I am willing to bet my life that we will find those answers behind the big giant door, right next to us! Now, what are you going to do about it Alpha?"

Hopkins was… well, honestly, he was surprised that the Hound still had any faith in him of all people. But, when he saw the faces of the other survivors, he knew he had to act. "Alright, we're opening that door," he said, shouldering the old assault rifle. "Stay close, and check your corners. Now move out!"

"Ho-aah!" the soldiers shouted as they got their gear in order. Hopkins looked at the lift, and pulled Dantalian aside.

"You have any demolition charges?" he asked her. She nodded, handing him one. Taking it gratefully, Hopkins took it and a length of cable and set it in the lift. Moments later, the trap was set and Hopkins quickly went to see what the deal with this door was. "Whoa," he muttered upon seeing it. "That's… bigger than expected." And indeed it was, befitting a high security bank more than a top secret underground black ops facility. Or maybe it did, Hopkins didn't exactly have much to go off of. "Can anyone access a control panel to this thing?"

"Well, I see something here Boss," Guardian said, gesturing to a small pedestal close to the entrance. "Think it might be the controls?" Thor snorted in pain as he chuckled.

"Nien, it's the button for instant pizza," the German snarked before Hopkins shook his head, walking forward.

"Thor, Guardian, not now," he chided before looking at the pedestal. It was featureless, save a single glass-like pane on the front of it. Confused, Hopkins tapped the bottom of it with his boot; it didn't magically activate. Frustrated, Hopkins groaned in irritation as he gave the console a good solid whack with his fist.

"Um, Sarge, I don't that's going to make it work," Vegillo stated, keeping his tracker fixed towards the direction of the lift. Tengu was about to retort when the device then suddenly flickered on. "Oh. Well, maybe it does," the freshly minted Sergeant added sheepishly. Taking a deep breath, Hopkins looked back at the console to see what it would take to open the damned door.

Palm I.D. Required.

Oh. Fuck. Irritated to no end at this point, Hopkins angrily took his right glove off and slammed it onto the reader. "Here's your fucking palm dammit!" he roared, spooking just about everyone in place. The reader analyzed his palm for a moment before flashing red.

"Error.Unauthorized entry attempted.Secur-ur-ur-urity will n-n-not be alerted to your presence," a digital voice stated in broken static. Before the soldiers could comment on the cryptic remark, the panel, once red, now flashed green. Locks and gears inside the door whirred into action, and with a mighty groan, the thick metal slab slowly swayed open.

"…So, man eating bugs, or creepy door?" Rourke questioned, gulping as he slowly shuffled forward, his rifle at the ready. Lupa padded alongside the fresh faced recruit, leaving Hopkins with a saddened smile. If Phoenix had had more like him back in the day, then maybe…. Mentally shaking his head, Hopkins followed closely, his NV activating with a blink of his eyes.

"Guardian, cover six with Vegilla," he ordered, following close behind Rourke and Lupa. "Everyone else stay in the middle. Just keep an eye out for any of those bugs."

Reports of 'Copy' were whispered by everyone as they advanced forward, and things got even stranger. "Okay, Sarge, I'm seeing what looks like some kind of testing facility to our nine," Rourke reported, sticking as best as he could to the cover of the wall. "There's a recess in the floor with liquid… it's glowing."

"Is it blue?" Hopkins asked as he took against the opposite wall, looking down a dark hallway lined with tubes.

"…no?"

"Okay, then it should be safe to investigate," Hopkins stated. "Blue is bad. Blue would be Cherenkov radiation, and believe me, that's not what you idiots should be dying of at this point in your lives." The members of Phoenix all chuckled at Hopkins' attempt at humor, at least because it would be something he would say back home at base.

"Well, all the same Sarge, there's a lot of these… tubes, I think, lining the walls here," Rourke continued. "I'm getting a really bad feeling here Boss."

You and everyone else here kiddo, Hopkins thought to himself. "Alright, if that's all, then let's keep going. I think I see a lift up ahead. Got some of those tubes you're talking about too Rourke." Hopkins took point as they advanced down the hallway, taking note of the strange tubes lining the walls. "Okay, Veggie, we good on rear?"

"Yeah, we shut the door on our way in," he said in a stage whisper. "Hopefully that'll hold long enough for us to find a way out." Hopkins grunted as they all crowded by the entrance to the lift.

"Alright, pile in," he ordered, covering them with Lupa as they all hustled inside. Once they were all onboard, he and the Hound backed into the lift. "Alright, hit it!" Thor nodded as he hit the switch with his good hand, sending the lift upwards.

The soldiers didn't need Hopkins to tell them to get ready, with all of them getting ready to open fire at the first hint of shining black. The lift stopped, the doors lowered, and… nothing. Nothing but the sight of an oddly designed room. They slowly walk in, and Hopkins walked over to a rack and looked at it. "This… wait a sec, are these?" Holstering his MAG rifle, he picked up a carbine sized weapon and inspected it. "Holy fuck, I've only heard rumors of these things!"

"Well, what the hell are they?" Harris asked, as Lupa butted past him.

"These are ancient," the Hound stated, looked at all the gear present. "The Elders quit using these long before I was born. Sergeant Major, there's no telling if these devices even work anymore." Hopkins frowned as he set the old weapon down.

"Alright, stay sharp," he commented, taking his rifle back out. "This ain't part of the base, that's for sure." Exiting the storeroom, the soldiers stood in silent awe at the cold, curved architecture of the alien walls and ceiling. "Lupa, what're those?" he asked, pointing to a series of rounded squares on the floor. The She-Hound shook her head, confused.

"I-I do not know," she answered shakily. "I've never seen anything like this at all." Seeing a pair of hard light doors ahead, Hopkins silently ordered his troops to split up, with Vegilla taking Five-Bravo to the closer of the two hard light doors, and the rest of Phoenix heading to the other door. Hopkins took Fitz and Dantalian with him to investigate an opening in the wall to their right, Lupa trailing behind them.

Moving past the odd columns, they saw what appeared to be a pair of holding cells flanked by another hard light door. Flashing his hands, Hopkins ordered Fitz and Dantalian to check the cells as he and Lupa covered them. The two reached the cells without trouble and Fitz peeked through the observation window of his cell. "Got a dead one here," he called out. "Looks like it's been a while for this one." Dantalian nodded in affirmation.

"Got the same here," she said, turning to look back at Hopkins. "Sarge, whoever these two were, they didn't die quick. I mean, I'm seeing like one bowl, maybe for water, and their bodies look way thin. I'm thinking they died of thirst or starvation, and that's if the air didn't cut off." Hopkins nodded as he walked over to the odd door and gave the light a hard hit.

The door dissolved, revealing yet another door behind it. Groaning in irritation, he walked right through it, dissolving it and revealing something that, for once, made him smile.

"Dantalian, front and center!" Hopkins barked. The young trooper quickly scrambled over to him, only to whistle in awe.

"…consider it done sir," she said simply as she dropped her pack of remaining explosives, looking at the very active elerium generator in front of her. "How big you think this'll blow?"

"Let's pray for big enough," Hopkins shot back as Vegilla spoke up on the radio.

"Sarge, I've got more of those tubes in here," the younger Sergeant said nervously. "And… and they've got bodies in them sir.Humanbodies." Hopkins' blood ran cold.

"I'll be right there," he replied, turning and running to where he had seen Vegilla and his team wander into. Skidding to a stop soon enough, he saw Vegilla standing by a glowing green tube, a strange coffin like device close by. "Report."

"Bodies all in these tubes Sarge," Vegilla explained, almost on the verge of panicking. "But, they're all kids, that's the weird fucking thing, Sarge, I-I don't know WHY they'd have kids here!" Hopkins eyed the tube Vegilla was standing next to and walked over to it. Inside was indeed a young child, roughly ten years old or so, with what he assumed was light brown skin. "Got a lot of other kids here too, but we can't see any connection between them all," Vegilla continued.

Hopkins looked over at the oddest feature of the room, and went over to inspect it. It was hollow, with a long, thin cavity taking up most of it, a smaller, more human shaped one inset inside of it. The Sergeant Major looked around, and saw-

-a smallish humanoid, wreathed in violet flame-

-a body suit somewhat similar to what he was wearing, with thin plates of armor on the extremities. "Oh God," Hopkins whispered, his knees starting to weaken. "This is where they were made."

"Sarge? What are you talking about?" Harris asked as Hopkins backpedalled away from the coffin as fast as he could. Before Hopkins could speak, Thor came in, panting.

"Boss, we've got something to show you, it's really… um, well, you have to see it yourself," the German stated. Wordlessly, they all filed into the last room, and immediately, Hopkins knew it was the command center.

"Okay, what is –" he began only for a flicking form to appear in front of him, causing him to react appropriately. "COVER!"

"Sarge, it's harmless!... we think," Guardian commented, pointing at what appeared to be a Codex. "It's broken. Keeps on wanting to speak with some guy named 'Pup.' You have any idea what it's talking about?" Hopkins gulped as he nodded.

"Yeah, I know who it's talking about," he answered as he walked over to the Codex. "What's your name?" The Codex looked up at him, and it was then Hopkins realized that it was… almost childish in features and demeanor.

"I-I-I-I-I d-don't have name, paintomuch, can't rest, so much pain, pain in the brain, pain in the brain," it stuttered as it clutched its head, shifting its form into a ball. Gulping, Hopkins did the unthinkable.

He took off his helmet.

Clipping it to his waist, Hopkins kneeled to the Codex's level and held out a hand. "Look, you wanted to talk to 'Pup?'" he asked it. The Codex shakily nodded.

"Elders o-on l-l-l-look out for XCOM Agent P-Pup, supposed base XCOM Site Delta, location unknown," it answered. Everyone looked at them in curiosity. Why would a Codex, and a broken one to boot, be looking for a likely dead XCOM agent? "Elders have e-ssstimated 62.2544 percent chance of knowledge of Agent status.Inquiryyyyy based on testimony of informant in Strike Four." Hopkins grimaced.

"Agent status is alive," he said flatly, standing up angrily. "Do you know what this facility is for?" The Codex nodded slowly.

"A-augm-mented Early Light facility used for the research and development of tactical bioweapons based on Chryssalid genome and for the initial creation and indoctrin-nation of Project SECOND LIFE."

Hopkins grimaced as he pulled his helmet back on. "Great, so they… they planned this?" he asked. "What ever happened to the five hundred or so civilians that were supposed to help terraform this island?"

"All five hundred and thirty-two candidates were exp-p-p-posed to augm-m-mented Chryssalids and conv-v-v-verted," the Codex answered. "I-I-I-I couldn't s-save them don't hurt me, I'll behave Daddy!" Hopkins froze in place as the Codex spoke. Just then, at then, it… it spoke like her. It had that exact same vocal inflections as she did. And since each Codex was part of ADVENT's Network….

"Sarge, you okay? You're spacing out on us Boss," Thor stated, snapping his fingers on his good arm. Hopkins jerked his head, blinking.

"I was? How long?" he asked. The soldiers all shrugged.

"You were out of it a good minute there Boss," Guardian quipped, drawing a sigh from the old soldier. "Also, Veggie's picking something up on that tracker of his, coming towards us."

"How many?" Hopkins asked as he spotted what looked like a spot to retrieve a hard drive.

"Umm, I've got like five or six contacts, all bearing towards the lift," Vegilla said as he looked at the tracker, his rifle held loosely in his other hand. Hopkins grunted as he pulled out a small, orange crystal from the console in front of him. Tucking it into a rear pocket, he turned to look at his soldiers.

"Alright, I want everyone out there, in cover, covering the door to that armory!" he barked, pulling out his Tau Carbine. "Nothing gets through, understood?" Cries of confidence rang out as everyone filed out, taking cover behind anything they could. "Dantalian, what's the status on that generator?"

"Almost… there!Charges are set, and ready for remote detonation!" she exclaimed. "I'm heading to your position now, over!"

Hopkins waited with bated breath, and let it out as he saw the soldier come out into the open, right in front of the-

Four tendrils of violet energy snapped out of the darkness, wrapping themselves around Dantalian's limbs. Shocked, they all watched as she was lifted into the air, kicking and screaming and the tendrils pulled. Spots of red began forming all over her uniform. "Open fire!" Tracers flew through the air as with a wet tearing sound, Dantalian was scattered around the door to the alien armory, a pair of heavily armored Muton dashing out, firing their heavy plasma cannons as a pair of Vipers provided precision support for them. But what grabbed Hopkins' attention was the lone alien behind them.

[Such a pity,] the alien stated, as a burst of plasma forced Hopkins' head down. [I was hoping for a real challenge from the Dragon.Instead, I get a washed up relic.But, one measly human is no different than another,] it continued, forming a psionic orb of energy and then throwing it at the defending soldiers.

The tight confines of the base, coupled with the team's choice of cover, made sure that the psychic attack hit most of them full force. They fell to the ground screaming, and it was at the sight of Lupa howling in anguish that something inside of Hopkins stirred. The Beast was angry, no, furious at the actions of the enemy before it, and it was demanding blood. It took Hopkins a scant second for him to consider it, and then he let his rage take over.

[][][]

He popped out of cover, and the moment that the small reticule hovered over the first Muton's head, he pulled the trigger. Three bolts of high energy particles flew out and struck, penetrating the armor and injuring it, sending it stumbling back. Two more bursts followed, and the beast fell. Its battle brother roared in fury, shifting its aim to him. But it wouldn't work, as he had already shifted position, getting even closer. Several rapid bursts flew from him, slamming into the Muton's chest, armor and tissue flying in steaming chunks.

A Viper leaned back, and shot its tongue out at him. He snatched the appendage out of the air, and to the Viper's horror, used the tongue as an aiming guide. The bolt of energy slammed into the wall behind her a moment later as the tongue went limp. The unknown alien gazed at him in alarm as in a matter of merely moments, its guards had been almost wiped out.

[You know not what you face!] it cried out, trying to summon forth more psionic energy as he cut down the last Viper. [All of you are but fodder, chaff before the storm that awaits!Only we can stop it!] It would have continued speaking had a fist, with the fury and power of a awakened god, slammed into its helmeted face, sending it flying back onto a wall. The wall cracked from the force, and the alien tried to stand back up, only for him to be on it in an instant, fists slamming into the brass colored helm. [You will die alone!Unloved, and broken!] the Ethereal roared, blasting the attacker off with a wave of psychic energy.

He slid back, his boot heels sending sparks as the thruster packs kicked in, sending gouts of flame back. And in the next moment, he sprang back forward, knife drawn.

The last thing the Ethereal felt was the sharp cold blade stabbing into its brain. And the snarling, skeletal face of a vengeful soldier was the last thing it saw.

Hopkins looked back at his soldiers, panting hard as he shook off the effects of the Ethereal's last attack, stumbling over to them. "Sound off!" he called out, reloading his carbine. Lupa padded out of cover, looking over at where Vegilla lay groaning in pain, his chest plate smoldering. "Well shit," he muttered as he moved over to the younger Sergeant. "You okay Veggie?"

Vegilla nodded with a grimace. "Yeah, I'm okay Old Dog," he gasped, reaching to remove the ruined chest armor. "A little burnt, but I'm okay." Hopkins nodded in relief as Fitz paused over one of the parts of Dantalian.

"Sarge, I think we've got another problem," the combat medic stated, pulling up a small hand held device. "Whatever she had wired, it's not going to go off with a broken detonator." Hopkins rolled his eyes as he walked over to the body and retrieved her dog tags. Suddenly, the captured crystal vibrated. Surprised, Hopkins pulled it out and looked at one of the faces, where a message was displayed in English.

C-can you put m-m-m-me in your armor sys-s-s-s-stem? Hopkins looked the crystal over and saw what looked to be a standard issue data port. "Guardian, see if you can't find a data transfer cable in the control room, now!" he barked. "Veggie, status on that tracker?"

"Clear Sarge!" Veggie answered after a moment, fiddling with the motion tracker. "I think I found the max range on this thing! Figure about thirty meters, and there's a really big blob at the edge of it!"

"Well, keep an eye on it!" Hopkins ordered as Guardian soon came back, cable in hand. Not wasting a second, Hopkins plugged the cable into the crystal and into a small port in the back of his helmet. Almost instantly, a message popped up on his helmet's HUD.

STARTING DATA TRANSFER

He watched as the status bar of the download bar filled up quickly, and soon a pop-up window appeared in the corner opposite that of his equipped weapon's status. "It i-is possible to c-c-cause a catastrophic c-c-core meltdown by overriding the safety protocols.A-also, you will need to disable the emergency cooling pumps located in the towers by the reactor," the Codex stated, its chosen avatar that of a small child. Looking at the fallen Mutons, Hopkins grinned as he walked over to it.

"Guardian, grab that cannon," he ordered, picking his up. "We're still going to blow that reactor!"

"Umm, how?" Guardian asked, picking up the heavy plasma cannon. Hopkins responded with a sharp slap on the cannon, the weapon whining as the power cell charged up. "Oh. Oooh," the Brit said as he almost saw the other man's shit eating grin from behind his helmet. Lupa charged her cannon as well, and together, they all went into the reactor room. Stepping towards the control console, Hopkins let the Codex guide him through disabling the reactor's safeties. Once the core stopped spinning, Hopkins snapped into action.

"Hit the towers now!" he ordered, aiming the cannon at one of the cooling pumps. As one, the three of them opened up, plasma splashing and melting the alien alloy shells of the pumps, and within seconds, the thermal shock of the plasma mixed with the Bose-Einstein condensate coolant destroyed them. "Move!" he yelled, dodging a rush of super-cooled liquid; cold water was one thing, a fluid that made liquid nitrogen look steaming hot in comparison was another thing entirely.

Ducking out of the reactor room, they met back up with the others, all of whom were grabbing whatever plasma weapons they could use from the storeroom. "Okay, is there another way out of here that doesn't involve the primary access tunnel or the hanger bay?" Hopkins asked the Codex, broadcasting its response out his suit's speakers.

"Ther-r-re is an emergency evacuuuuation tunnel that leads to an isolated hanger," the Codex answered. "Access to it is from the op-op-op-operations center in the main base.Howwwwwever, there is a high concentration of aug-g-gmented Chrysallids between you and the access point." Hopkins huffed as he looked at the Ethereal's body.

"Wouldn't be a Phoenix op if it were easy," he commented. "Alright, everyone listen up! We are getting to that hanger, and we are leaving this shithole before the reactor overheats and blows a hole the size of Jersey onto this island! Guradian, Lupa, you two will be taking point, I want a wave of fire on those bugs at all times! Everyone else will provide cover support for the cannons to cool off! We have-" Hopkins checked his timer, which the Codex helpfully pulled up. "Twelve minutes to get the hell out of here! Now let's get the hell out of here Phoenix!"

"HOO-AAH!" the soldiers chanted together as they all rushed towards the lift, leaving Hopkins alone with the body. Rolling his shoulder, Hopkins pulled out yet another knife from his thigh and got to work.

[][][]

Lupa growled savagely as she sent a long burst of plasma into the oncoming horse. They had managed to just get past the lift heading back into the main base when they damn near ran into the oncoming Chryssalids. Almost immediately, she and Guardian opened up on the vile creatures, sending steaming chunks of gory parts flying as they continued to advance slowly forward.

"Cover!" Guardian shouted as he ducked into cover, slapping the cover of his borrowed cannon open, letting the heat vent. Behind him, Fitz and Rourke opened fire on the monsters. Eyeing the gauge on her equipment, Lupa saw that her own cannon was about to overheat as well.

"They're getting too close!" Lupa barked just as her cannon finally went into the red. "Cover me!" As Tengu and Harris opened fire, Lupa whined. "And where's Old Dog?"

The response to that question came in the form of an alien grenade flying past Lupa's head and clattered to the floor underneath the bugs. A second later, a small inferno consumed most of them as the heat wave passed over the soldiers. "Advance!" Hopkins commanded, taking the lead as his MAG rifle opened up, the light armor piercing rounds slamming into the remaining bugs.

Lupa howled, glad that the armored human was taking the lead, moments before her cannon came back online. They advanced again, passing through the living quarters and alien containment module without incident. Hopkins had needed to throw another alien grenade into the horse to thin them out in what they assumed was a lab module, but other than that, they were almost to the operations center when the bugs finally caught up to them.

"Get that door closed!" Hopkins ordered, keeping the lead flying downrange as Rourke and Vegilla struggled to shut one of the blast doors to the corridor leading to Ops. Lupa watched as the two soldiers had almost closed the door when one of the bugs somehow popped out from Hopkins' blind spot and grabbed Rourke by the leg.

"GYAAAaaagh!" the young soldier screamed out as the monster began to tear into his leg, the wet ripping of flesh almost inaudible under the din of her plasma cannon and Hopkins' rifle going off. The moment it was dead, Hopkins threw the last of his alien grenades past the door and slammed it shut as Vegilla pulled Rourke out of the way, blood pooling into a thick crimson river on the floor.

"Grab his tags!" Hopkins snapped as he hit the controls to lock the blast door, the thick steel slabs shaking from the impacts of the horde on the other side. Vegilla nodded as he grabbed the marksman's dog tags and stood up. Without warning, the door was wrenched open just enough for a Chryssalid to lean in and bite down on his shoulder, mandibles cleaving through flesh and armor with equal ease. "Fuck!" Hopkins yelled as he fired into the bug's head at point blank, pulling Vegilla away as the three of them hurried to rejoin the others.

"Shit, what happened?" Tengu asked as they came into view, Vegilla's face already pale as Harris and Guardian got the emergency door open. Hopkins shook his head as he handed him over to her.

"Bug got him through the door," he told her. "I don't know how long until the embryo matures and… kills him," he added, looking at the Sergeant with a look of sincere regret. Vegilla gasped and panted as he weakly grabbed his weapon.

"Just leave me here Sarge," he pleaded weakly. "I mean, come on, going out in a blaze of glory would be pretty damn good all things considered, right?" Lupa whined as she brushed against Vegilla. Hopkins looked away and sighed. Turning back, he held out his hand; taking the hint, Vegilla went and took it, and the two of them shook hands. "It's been an honor Boss Dog," Vegilla said, coughing up blood.

"The honor was mine," Hopkins replied, nodding as he handed him a plasma weapon. "Make it count First Sergeant Vegilla," he said as the emergency door finally opened. Vegilla jerked his head over to the door, and the Hound and CSM both chased after the remaining survivors. Lupa looked over and watched as Hopkins made sure that at each heavy door in the corridor to the lift, everyone else had gone through before closing the doors. Once at the lift, they piled on, and waited with bated breath as they rose up. Lupa saw, with growing anticipation, a small flash of light at the top of the shaft.

"Almost home," Thor muttered, and Lupa was inclined to agree with him. Only to be disappointed and shocked at the craft that revealed itself as the lift stopped. It was an aircraft, to be sure, but that was about all it had going for it. It looked, quite plainly, ancient, with rust peeling off in entire sections as Hopkins rushed towards it. Above them, a massive pair of doors began to open, the cavern echoing its deep, wailing call of pain. "…what a piece of schieße," Thor commented flatly as the team took n the sight of their ride out.

"Umm, Sergeant Major, what the fuck is that thing?" Harris asked, confused. It was a question that Lupa could honestly get behind. Hopkins peeked out from the rear entry ramp as he ushered them all inside of it.

"It's an SR-77H Skyranger, model 1993," he answered as he made sure that they were all strapped in before moving to the cockpit. "Stealth capable VTOL troop and cargo transport designed by the USSR in the late Seventies. Trust me, she's tougher than she looks," he added as he slid into the pilot's chair, quickly and with astonishing ease powering up the old aircraft. Lupa glanced back at everyone else, dumbstruck at Hopkins' declaration.

"Wait, how would you know?" Lupa asked, shaking her furry head in confusion as the engines whined in waking fury, an unmistakable howl filling the air.

"Umm, Boss, they're coming for us," Guardian shouted in worry as the bugs began spilling out of the access lift. Lupa saw Hopkins tense up as he clenched down hard on the throttle.

"Well, it'd be rude to leave… without saying goodbye," Hopkins stated cryptically. Lupa wondered what he was planning as the Chryssalids rushed to their position. She was almost about to arm her cannon when Hopkins finally gunned the thrusters to the Skyranger, the exhaust flash cooking the closest monsters while sending the rest tumbling backwards. The team quickly grabbed onto whatever they could to brace themselves as Hopkins guided them out of the hanger bay, the Skyranger only shaking slightly. The moment that they cleared the door, they began to relax, only for a voice to come over their radio.

"This is Lieutenant Lynch, 77thHVG, I am pinned down by my craft, I am in dire need of assistance!" Oddball shouted over the radio. "If anyone can hear me, look for smoke inside the caldera!" There wasn't a single word said amongst the remaining troops as to where they were going. Guardian stood up and looked over at the others.

"Tengu, get Thor situated!" he ordered, grabbing onto a ceiling rail. "Harris, grab that cable, we'll need it for anchoring," he added, pointing at a length of coiled cable under one of the seats. Harris quickly ducked down and grabbed it, drawing out his knife. Lupa saw the two of them quickly sort out the length of cable they needed, cut it, and then tied themselves down with it. "Boss, what's our ETA to Oddball?" Guardian yelled as he hit the door controls.

"Thirty seconds!" Hopkins yelled back as the Skyranger suddenly dropped.

"JESUS CHRIST, NOT AGAIN!" Thor screamed in terror as he clung on to his restraining harness with his one good hand, the others now understanding just why the Command Sergeant Major was in the consideration for permanent ban from driving much of anything in combat. The ramp lowered down, and Guardian and Harris saw the ruined form of their dropship smoking on the ground, Oddball and his crew chief taking potshots at the incoming Chryssalid horde.

"Come on!" Guardian shouted, waving the two over to the barely hovering Skyranger. Oddball quickly dropped his weapon and hauled ass to the offered hand, Chief following him. Guardian hauled Oddball up as Harris opened fire on the bugs trailing the crew chief, and with only a scant few seconds to spare, the crew chief managed to scramble aboard. "Dust off Boss, dust off!"

Hopkins needed no further encouragement as he gunned the throttle yet again, sending the craft on an accelerated dash into the air as the ramp closed up, the soldiers all strapping themselves into the seats, Lupa handing onto a strap with her powerful jaws. For a few minutes, the only thing they heard was the roar of the engines before Hopkins spoke up. "Everyone, brace!" he called out.

A flash of light came through the windows, and Lupa could almost imagine the full scale of the fireball that had consumed the base they had just barely vacated. And that was before they were roughly jostled by the pressure wave, the shaking almost giving everyone present whiplash. "Is it over?" Lupa asked as the transport leveled out, Oddball slowly making his way to the cockpit to help out Hopkins.

Hopkins sighed in relief. "Yeah, it's over," he called out.

[][][]

The first clue that Hopkins had that his destination was close at hand was the radiation gauge kicking up a few notches. "Alright, we're almost there," he called out to the survivors tiredly, just as a little red light popped up above his fuel gauge. "Which is a good thing, since I'm almost out of bingo juice." Oddball flinched in shock.

"How the hell are you out of bingo fuel?!" he cried out, climbing into the copilot seat. Hopkins snorted.

"Old craft, and it hasn't been serviced in years," he explained. "Fuel was bound to leak." Oddball grumbled as Lupa stuck her head in the cockpit.

"Where will we be landing?" she asked, curious. Hopkins was about to answer he finally caught sight of a little island in the middle of all the blue.

"You'll… you'll see," he replied softly, his face hardening into something… not Hopkins like. Lupa was going to demand more when the old Skyranger banked left and she finally saw the island in question for herself, along with everyone else. It had looked like a lopsided 'J' at one point, had a comparatively massive crater not bisected it. Other than that, it looked completely abandoned as the buildings on it were falling to ruin.

"Boss, what is this place?" Tengu asked, scared. Hopkins gulped as he guided the Skyranger in, and minutes later, landed the craft on the cracked and ruined runway. They all watched as Hopkins slowly got out of the pilot's seat and stumbled over to the ramp, his hands shakily stripping his armor off. "Sarge, what are you doing, this place could be another ambush!" Tengu cried out, moving to grab him.

In a flash, her arm was stopped by Hopkins' hand holding her wrist, and for the first time, Tengu and many others saw something they'd never thought to see on the old soldier's face: grief. "Private Sato, there is no one alive on this island anymore," Hopkins said quietly as he shook in place. "NO one. We're… safe here. For now." Releasing her arm, he continued to take his armor off until he stood in nothing but his Reflex undersuit. Taking a deep breath, he hit the release to the ramp and the moment it hit the ground, he was walking down it.

Tengu looked over at Lupa and gestured to Hopkins. The Hound nodded and followed him, Harris and Guardian tagging along as well. Once they exited the Skyranger, they saw the true extent of the island's destruction. Many of the buildings in front of them currently were either severely burned, or flattened, to say nothing of the two twisted hulks of old prop planes still on the runway. "What happened here?" Guardian asked, looking around uneasily. The place felt like a grave, and the lack of bird cries didn't help much.

"Operation HAMMERFALL," Hopkins whispered, standing ahead of them, his eyes closed in phantom pain. "ADVENT had reports that remnants of the US Army's Seventh Army was in the area planning a strike, and they wanted to take of it. Unfortunately, they thought that sending troops here to find the soldiers would've taken too long, and since the place was a known Army garrison, they decided an orbital strike was the way to go.

Hopkins choked back a sob. "So, on August Second, two thousand fifteen, at ten forty-three in the morning, an orbiting battleship launched a plasma strike with an equivalent nuclear force of two and a half kilotons. We… we were in the middle of evacuating the civilians off the island. My dad… my dad…." At that moment, the floodgates opened, and he finally went down on his knees and cried.

The three stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. While they had known that Hopkins didn't like ADVENT at the best of times (and that was being generous), they had never imagined that this was the reason why. Slowly, so as not to spook him, Lupa crept forward. "G-Gabriel?" she asked tentatively, earning a slight turn of the head. "What about your mother? Surely she was safe during this, right?"

The reaction she got was one of utter anguish as he turned away, pointing to the ruined aircraft in front of them.

"Oh fuck," Harris muttered as his arms went limp, his rifle's muzzle almost kissing the ground now.

Now it all made sense. Why Hopkins hated ADVENT. Why he had never, in any war games or otherwise, ever called for an orbital strike. And why he never talked about his parents. And why he had seemed so distraught the moment he stepped off the Skyranger.

They were standing, in effect, where his family died.

"But why would the Elders condone a strike on a civilian population evacuating?" Guardian asked, confused. "That… that can't be something they'd do, right?" Lupa huffed as she looked over her shoulder at him.

"And the hell we experienced on that island didn't help dissuade you?" she snarled, padding over to Hopkins' side. "You heard it from the Ethereal one, we're nothing but fodder for them! After what we just saw, I… I can't help but wonder what else they lied to us about…." The two human soldiers looked at each other as Hopkins slowly stood back up.

"We're… we're going to get the others out of that deathtrap," Harris said as he backed away. Guardian grimaced as he gave the planes one last look before moving back to the Skyranger.

"There… should be a HAM radio shack, on the other side of the crater," Hopkins said flatly. "It'll be ocean side, look for a pool, can't miss it. We should be able to patch into it and contact base through it."

Harris and Guardian nodded as they jogged back to the others, while Lupa stayed behind with Hopkins. He began walking right towards the planes, his face pained with each and every step. Beside him, Lupa wondered just what was running through his head.

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August 2, 2015

10:35 AM Local Time

Ebeye Island, Kwajalein Atoll

Sergeant Gabriel 'Pup' Monnot was doing his best to control the crowd of scared Marshallese as they evacuated the Kwajalein Atoll. "Alright, everyone, remain calm!" he shouted. "No pushing, no pushing!Hey, what did I just say?" he shouted out, putting a firm hand on the chest of a frenzied man.The man quickly babbled away in Marshallese, forcing Gabe to shake his head. "Sir, look, I know you're scared, but you'll have to wait for the next boat, this one is almost full," he explained as he looked over his shoulder to see the boat almost full of people.

"Sergeant!Get on, now!" a member of the former US Army Kwajalein Atoll Garrison called out, waving his arm.Gabriel nodded as he climbed onto the boat.Clicking his radio, he looked over to where the dock master's office was and gave them a thumbs up.Off in the distance, a larger vessel stood out against the horizon as sirens continued to sound off all across the atoll.

It had been three days since he had learned of ADVENT's plan to wipe out a small cell of rebels hiding in the South Pacific, and they seemed to think that they had holed up in Kwaj.And after having fought the aliens in hit and run tactics for the past three years, Gabriel more than knew what ADVENT was likely to do in this situation.He had, with some desperation, convinced Zero that he had to at least help with the evacuation.So here he was, helping the people abandon everything they had ever known to save their own lives.

It had also been a chance for him to, at least for a night, reconnect with his estranged family.It had been a tearful morning as he kissed his little brother on the head as the eight year old lay sleeping in his bed.He had given his mother one last hug before he put his Kevlar back on.

He had finally forgiven his dad.

He had grabbed the earliest boat to Ebeye as the first evacuation C-130 landed on the strip.And now, he was on a boat to the formally decommissioned USS Theodore Roosevelt. "Everyone, stay calm!" he shouted. "We will be at the ship shortly, no need to panic!Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to please sit down!"Off in the distance, U.S. Air Force C-130's were landing and taking off the runway as fast as they could load the civilians and refuel.

Suddenly, Gabriel's satellite phone rang, startling the young soldier.Moving off to a quiet area of the boat, he pulled the phone out and answered it. "Hello?"

"Gabriel, where are you?" his mother asked worriedly, her fear slicing through Gabriel's heart like a knife.

"I'm on a boat close by, I'm shifting over to the Roosevelt!" he told her. "Where are you?Is Carson off the island at least?"

"Carson and I are on the plane, we're about to take off!" his mother replied. "I just wanted to hear your voice before we left!" Off in the background, Gabriel could hear the voices of several other island inhabitants and his little brother talking loudly in fear. "I love you Gabriel, I love you so much!"

"Mom, you're going to make it, you're going to make it I-"

He never got to finish as a blinding lance of light came down from the sky and slammed into Kwajalein.There was no sound for a moment until the pressure wave slammed into them, almost capsizing the craft.Getting back to his feet, Gabriel looked up and saw the mushroom cloud hanging over the area where the airfield had been, the heat of the blast itself ignored for the cold chill running up his spine.

"No," he whispered, falling to his knees.He continued to mutter the word as the crew attempted to restart the boat.All the while, Gabriel's heart, for the first time, was shattered.

Hopkins blinked the memory away, his hand on the cold hull of a downed C-130. Glancing behind him, he saw that Lupa was still with him and taking a deep breath, forced the crew door open. A squeal of fused metal and rust filled the air as he and the Hound entered, the inside illuminated by the shattered windows and open door. Hopkins paused, looking at each of the flash fried and mummified corpses in turn before his gaze finally fell on two. Slowly, tentatively, he walked to them and fell to his knees.

Lupa stopped by his side and looked at the corpses in confusion. "Who are they?" she asked him. Hopkins gingerly cupped the head of the smaller body.

"His name was Carson," he replied softly, tears streaming down his face. "He was born July 26th, 2007 in Louisville, Kentucky. He was only eight. He loved Legos and video games. He… he was a great kid," he choked out. "He was the best kid I knew, until my daughter. And she would have loved her uncle." Lupa stepped back, stunned.

"Gabriel, these aren't just bodies, are they?"

He shook his head. "No," he told her. "My family… my real family, they… we died here. I tried to save them, and they still died. All because ADVENT wanted to control everything," he spat, standing up quickly. He looked to the back of the plane, and wandered over there. Lupa looked over at the taller of the two bodies and felt her ears and tail fall.

"For what it is worth, I am sorry for your loss," she stated sadly. "I can't imagine what it is like for you. After all, why would you work for the very people you feel killed your family?" Hopkins came back with a shovel as he gave them a good long look one more time.

"Because, they have things I can use to save more families from sharing my pain," he told her. "There was a saying, back in the day. I think it went, 'the loneliest people are the kindest, the saddest people smile the brightest, and the most damaged people are the wisest.'" Hopkins paused in the doorframe. "It's been a while since I've thought of those words," he admitted. Lupa smiled at him.

"They describe you well," she commented. Hopkins huffed as he stepped out before walking towards the lagoon side of the island. "After all this, you are still the strongest human I know of."

"How so?"

Lupa looked at the soldiers piling out of the dented Skyranger. "The soldiers you've lost have clearly taken a toll on you," she said, seeing Hopkins nod slowly in agreement. "The loss of your family even more so. I know of no Hound, myself included, who could stay sane after all the suffering you have had. I doubt that even Commander Harrington would know how you would feel after all these years." Hopkins smiled flatly at the odd compliment.

"Thank you," he told her as he stepped onto a small strip of beach. "That… means a lot, actually. But right now, I need some time to myself. Okay?" he asked her, setting the blade of the shovel into the ground. Lupa nodded and padded away. Grimacing, Hopkins looked back at the shovel in his hands, and began digging.

[][][]

Hours Later

Tyler looked on in stunned silence as the dropships all circled around what was supposed to be the location for the island Hopkins' mission was on. Instead, what he saw was a giant strip of molten rock as magma spewed out of the island's mountains, a smoldering hole in place of the caldera up north. "Commander, sensor sweep's complete, you're not going to believe this!" one of his SAR officers called out. Turning his head, Tyler tapped his radio and responded.

"What's the problem?"

The operator gestured at her screen. "Commander, I'm picking up a lot of elerium in the air space," she told him. "Almost like a generator exploded or something. But XCOM couldn't possibly have that kind of capability, right?" Tyler shook his head.

"Negative," he told her. "All reports suggest that XCOM doesn't have the capability to use elerium in any way, much less build an elerium generator. No, something else happened, and until we find Hopkins' team, we will-"

"Commander, I have radio contact with Phoenix Squad!" the craft's radio officer called out excitedly. "I'm getting a location… understood Phoenix, we are en route to your position, just hang tight over," he added, typing at his console. Seconds later, Tyler felt the ship lurch under his feet as the ships all accelerated to the where the survivors were hopefully located. Leaning on the wall, Tyler pondered about what he was likely going to find. Minor casualties? Probably, but then again, it was an XCOM base, there was no way fighting through it would have been easy. An angry Sergeant Major? Hell, that was almost guaranteed with Hopkins. An explanation as to how Hopkins had made it to the middle of the South Pacific with no being the wiser? …that might actually be an issue.

The sun was beginning to set as Tyler caught sight of an unusual 'J' shaped island from the door of the dropship. "This the place?" he asked the pilot, who nodded as red flares started lighting up on the ground. Tyler almost smiled until he noticed the complete emptiness of the island, and the two twisted hulks of destroyed aircraft frames. "Set us down by the flares!" he ordered, and the ship quickly touched down to land. Stepping off, he saw Sergeant Rawlins of Phoenix leading… sweet Jesus, that couldn't be….

"Sergeant, where's the rest of your team?" Tyler asked, confused. The eight survivors all looked at each other tiredly, with Thor holding his arm in a still red splint.

"Gone Commander," Rawlins reported. "CSM's on the other side of the crater, facing lagoon side though," he added pointing in the direction indicated. "Just follow the waterline sir, you can't miss him." Tyler nodded slowly as the soldiers and lone Hound climbed onto the craft before his eyes widened. "Get in contact with base, tell them we need an asset recovery mission here!" he ordered, pointing at the old, but still serviceable looking VTOL at the end of the runway.

Turning away, he did as Rawlins had suggested and, less than twenty minutes later, found Hopkins. He was alone, clad only in his undersuit as he sat on the sand of the small beach. Tyler looked around and past the undergrowth, he could see the signs of a small pavilion, a life guard tower, a-

"Welcome to Emon Beach sir," Hopkins said softly, startling him. "Everyone used to be here all the time. Parties, swimming, fishing. This beach was never not used by someone." Tyler made his way over to his older compatriot and stood by him.

"You sound like you knew this place well," he said, and Hopkins smiled longingly.

"Yeah, I did," he replied before slowly standing up. "Building behind us was the Teen Life Center. All us middle and high school knuckleheads would meet up in there and hang out, use the internet, shoot the breeze, that kind of thing." His smile faltered for a moment as he picked up a bag that was by his side. "Come on, I'll show you around." Tyler shook his in frustration.

"Hopkins, why the hell are you here when your mission was in Alaska?!" he snapped out, causing Hopkins to stop and huff.

"…it was the first place I could think of that was safe," the Sergeant told him. "As for the specifics, that'll have to wait for the debrief. Now, please, I need to… no, you need to see what happens when ADVENT doesn't get their way." Tyler cocked his head, confused as Hopkins led him over to another building across from the Teen Center. "That's the Middle and High School building," Hopkins commented, a faint hint of pride in his voice. "KHS Spartans. Best team on the island."

"Wouldn't that have been the only team on the island?" Tyler snarked. Hopkins shrugged.

"Eh, semantics," he countered as he spotted a bleached and tattered flag hanging from the flag pole. "Hold on, I need to do something," he said, setting the bag down. Tyler watched as Hopkins reverently pulled the flag down, and with a precision and care that he had never seen shown to any of the ADVENT banners, folded up and set inside what he assumed was the main office of the school. And then it all clicked.

"This isn't just an island to you, is it?" Tyler asked. Hopkins didn't respond as he picked his bag back up. "This… this was your home, wasn't it?" the blonde continued, his eyes widening as he walked around Hopkins in shock. "That's why you hate ADVENT so much, isn't it? They forced you off the-"

"NO!" Hopkins snarled angrily, causing Tyler to reach for his sidearm. Hopkins sighed as he rubbed his head with gloved fingers. "No Tyler, this was not just an island, and them hitting it with an orbital plasma strike, while pissing me off, isn't the reason. No, you want to know the truth, follow me." Tyler frowned at the man's insubordination, but followed him out of curiosity. And then grew increasingly uncomfortable as Hopkins pointed out the buildings that used to be, and what they were to him.

"Surfway. Our better grocery store, provided the barge came in on time with the fresh veggies."

"Food court. Everyone ate there at least a few times a week."

"Library and AFN station," he said as the passed one half demolished building. "Only had seven channels, but then that's why we all invested in DVD and Blu-Ray players." Tyler was now very uncomfortable. They were now practically in the crater as Hopkins stopped, pointing at some rubble that hadn't been vaporized. "And over there was the air traffic control tower for the airfield. My dad was in the tower."

…oh shit.

The rest of their trip was quiet as they eventually made their way to yet another beach, only… there were four grave markers. Hopkins stopped a respectful distance away, and Tyler took the unspoken cue to go forward. Stopping in front of them, he looked down and read the names.

Lawrence Monnot: Mar. 19, 1970 – Aug. 2, 2015

Rachel Anne Hopkins Monnot: Feb. 19, 1974 – Aug. 2, 2015

Gabriel Adam Monnot: Jul. 21, 1994 – Aug. 2, 2015

Carson Monnot: Jul. 26, 2007 – Aug. 2, 2015

Tyler looked up and saw Hopkins looking outward to the lagoon as the sun began dipping below the horizon. "Mom and Carson were on the plane when the strike hit," he explained flatly. "I couldn't sleep for years because of that. I'd keep seeing that flash of green, I feel the heat and the pressure wave, and I pray that it was painless for them." He sighed. "My first family died because I couldn't save them in time. Pray sir that you don't ever have to go through the same." Picking his bag up, he went and headed to the waiting dropship, and after a moment, Tyler followed.

[][][]

Hopkins was tired as he walked onto the bridge of the battleship, Tyler leading the way. It had been a week since the mission, and thankfully, Tyler had not once brought up or mentioned Kwaj. But, still, ADVENT wanted to know why an island suddenly went boom and vanished off the face of the planet, and Hopkins was going to tell them. In armor of course; he couldn't exactly be too prepared now could he?

Stopping, he watched as Tyler punched in the access code to the room where he could talk to the Council. After the door hissed open, he followed him inside and waited for them to get connected. "Are you okay?" Tyler asked finally after a few moments. "I mean, it's not often that the Council asks for a personal debrief." Hopkins grunted as he adjusted his grip on a bag in his hand.

"I'll be fine," he stated flatly. "If things go the way I imagine they will, then you won't have to worry about me much longer." Tyler was going to ask what Hopkins was talking about when not only the hologram of the Speaker appeared, but that of the Ethereal Council, and that of the rest of High Command as well.

"Council members," Tyler stated, saluting them respectfully. "I understand you wished to debrief Command Sergeant Major Hopkins yourselves?" The Speaker nodded as he noted with disdain the lack of respect given to him by the CSM in question.

"That is correct Commander Harrington," the Speaker stated grandly. "I would like to call to order this debriefing, and possible trial, of Command Sergeant Major Gabriel Hopkins of the Seventy-Seventh Human Volunteer Group, Bravo Company, Second Squad.Hopkins, tell us about this mission you were sent on."

Settling his gaze on the Speaker, Hopkins stepped forward. "Our mission, which if my memory serves me right you gave us, was to investigate the site of a supposed Extraterrestrial Combat Unit base, and if need be, eliminate all resistance. While it could be argued that Commander Harrington would have enjoyed greater success on this mission, it was decided that I lead the investigation team on site," he explained, earning a surprised glance from Tyler. "En route to the mission site, we came across the remains of the local township, and upon landing, found no trace of human or alien habitation within the past five years."

And so the debrief went, with question after question fielded at Hopkins, who took it all with an unusual degree of impassiveness that honestly surprised Tyler. Soon however, the hot topic came up. "Hopkins, to reiterate, your final action during this mission was to destroy the island," the Speaker stated, glaring at Hopkins. "We know that enemy forces systematically attacked and killed your soldiers, but what forced you to destroy the island by overloading the base's elerium generator?" Tyler finally saw a flicker of a smile on Hopkins' face as he yawned.

"Containment of an enemy bioweapon," he said plainly. "I have a duty to the people of Earth to protect them from all threats. This biological agent was a clear and present threat, so I made the command decision to wipe it out before its developers could use it."

[And what of our dear compatriot, Commander Alnus?] an Ethereal asked. [As an expert on biological weapons, his opinion would have been most appreciated during this debriefing.] Hopkins chuckled darkly, surprising Tyler and everyone else.

"Well, you see, I do believe that Mister Alnus was present during the mission," he said, hefting the bag in his hand. "However, he and I suffered a difference in opinion as to the lives of my soldiers. That sort of thing tends to happen when you have someone draw and quarter your subordinate in front of you while trying to cover things up."

[Lies!] another Ethereal spat, pointing at Hopkins angrily. [Commander Alnus was not present for your mission you slattern-son!]

"I thought that was your mother last night," Hopkins shot back coolly, earning a groan of irritation from Tyler. "But in that vein, then I guess I need some help with identifying this guy then." Reaching into the bag, he pulled out by the still embedded knife the severed head of the Ethereal he had killed a week ago and dropped it on a table. "See, he declined to introduce himself to me during the operation, and he did kill four of my soldiers," Hopkins continued, ignoring the cries of alarm from the Council.

Tyler looked at the severed head in horror as he looked between it and Hopkins. How had he… why?!

[Commander Alnus!] Junia cried out, staring at Hopkins. [His guards should have stopped you!]

"They tried," Hopkins said dryly. "They just weren't expecting a lone wolf to tear into them." A Hound snarled at the term he had used.

"And you would know, traitor!" the Hound barked. "You would betray the Elders so, spitting upon their-"

"Quiet," Hopkins commanded, staring at the Hound with controlled fury, a light growl escaping his throat. The Hound held the stare for only a few seconds before looking away, whimpering. Looking back at the Council, Hopkins cleared his throat. "Now, let me make this very clear. I don't like you lot worth a damn. In fact, let's be honest, I hate you all. Your lives do NOT matter to me. The lives of the soldiers here on this base do, including Commander Harrington's. See, I've read the file you put together on him, and I know you were all banking on his hatred of XCOM for him to attend this mission. But, since I do have some level of regard for the little boisterous blonde bastard beside me, I took his place on that op."

Okay, Tyler wasn't sure if he should feel honored that Hopkins actually respected him, or be insulted at being called a little blonde bastard.

"Now, listen well," Hopkins continued. "You scratch my kids, I make you bleed. You hurt them, I break you. And if you kill them," he paused, letting them all look at Alnus' severed head. "You will wish that death is quick. Now, if that is all?"

Silence.

"…Command Sergeant Major Hopkins, in light of the evidence you have given us, you have been found guilty of murder and gross negligence," the Speaker finally stated after a moment. "In addition, with the admitted murder of an esteemed Council member, you have also been found guilty of treason.You will be taking from the custody of Commander Harrington in two hours, to be transferred to a facility of our choosing.Do you have anything else you wish to say?"

Hopkins reached over and pulled out his knife, flicking away the week old brain matter from the blade. "Well, you're all a bunch of bigoted assholes," he commented. "Furthermore, Admiral Junia, while your defense of the Imperial Palace was admirable, you could have easily saved more lives had you used the assets you had on hand to open up decent lines of communication. And if you can't figure it out, then you really have no place to be commanding ground forces in the future."

Hopkins looked back at Tyler and nodded. "I'll be in my office," he said before turning away and leaving the room. Tyler gulped as he looked back at the now furious Council… and the head that was still on his table.

Meanwhile, Hopkins was well on his way to his office, tapping away on his tablet with several last minute orders of his. Namely, to fill up the newly acquired and renovated Skyranger with a few guns, crates of ammunition, medical supplies, et cetera. Reaching his office, he quickly went to work stripping it down of anything useful. Important papers he shoved in a different bag; everything else he shoved into the trash bin along with a healthy dose of lighter fluid.

"Hopkins? May I come in?"

Hopkins paused as he debated on whether or not to let Tyler into his office. "Sure, come on in," he answered, shoving the last paper into his bag before looking back to see Tyler's worried face. "So, what are you going to do?" he asked calmly. Tyler sighed as he looked about the bare office.

"Well, I am under orders to take you to the brig until the Elders send members of the Special Tasks here to transfer you out of my command," Tyler said, eyeing the armored soldier. "However, I want to know why you killed Commander Alnus."

Hopkins looked away as he contemplated his words. "…as I said in the debrief, the lives of my soldiers matter more to me than his. What we saw down there in that base will haunt us for the rest of our lives, and I regret that I was the one who blindly walked right in there. I do not regret killing the bastard that tore apart my troops in front of me, and I'd do it again," he answered. "Now, if you think you can stop me from leaving me, you're more than welcome to try."

Tyler shook his head. "I'm not stupid," he stated, huffing. "You're in power armor, I'm not. Besides, despite all the shit you've put me through, you would never do anything like this without a damned good reason. So, in that vein… Glitch, shut down all security services for the next two hours," he ordered. The lights flickered briefly. "You have two hours to get the hell out of here before they arrive," Tyler said, rubbing his temples. "Please don't make me regret it."

Hopkins turned back and smiled at Tyler fondly. "No promises there kid," he replied, hefting his bag. "However, since we do need to make my struggle to get out of here believable, and since you're the only one likely to directly arrest me, well… sorry about this." Tyler had only a moment to look on in brief surprise as Hopkins' fist collided with his gut, causing him to gasp and keel over; this in turn led to a slightly less armored knee to connect with his head, knocking him out. Moving him out of the way of the door, Hopkins carefully placed him in his former chair, and pulled out a roll of duct tape.

[][][]

When Valerie entered her office in the Experimental Warfare Wing, she would've expected her human to be working there. What she got was Hopkins standing in his office, putting all of his encrypted journals into a bag while the few hard drives containing research data rested on the table. "Gabe, what are you doing?" she asked, moving closer to him. Gabe stiffened, his movements jerky as he tried to explain himself to her.

"I… I've been transferred," he told her lamely, setting the last of his journals into the bag. "I'll be leaving in about," he checked his watch, "An hour and a half, give or take." Val stared at him, tears forming in her eyes.

"Transferred?" Val choked out, "Why? Was it because of that mission? Gabe, please, you can tell me! Just… please, don't push me away," she begged, wrapping her tail and arms around his armored form. Gabe sighed as he hugged her back tenderly.

"Yeah, it's because of the mission," he whispered to her. "HIGHCOM… Val, I can't say more, I don't want you hurt," he pleaded, pulling away from the hug. "I know that if I leave, you'll want to come with me, and I can't… I can't stand the thought of losing you too." Val watched as he hung his head down in shame as he went over to the hard drives.

"Gabe, there is nowhere safer I can think of than with you!" she exclaimed, moving with him as he placed the drives inside a chute leading to an incinerator. "And why are you destroying your data?"

"Val, I will not let those MONSTERS take the things I've made and use them to hurt the people I love!" Gabe snapped, whirling about to face her. "I love you Val'leis, but please, I am the least safest person on this planet right now for you to be around! I want you safe dammit!"

SLAP!

"You don't get to make that kind of decision for me Gabriel Hopkins!" Val hissed furiously, standing up even straighter to tower over the human. "I nearly lost you five times in the last month alone, and the Great Mothers help me if I let you go out there and let yourself get killed because of some perverted sense of chivalry! Now, I am coming with you, and there is nothing, NOTHING, that you are going to do about it!" she added, poking him repeated in his chest plate. Silence rang loudly as Hopkins looked at the Viper in stunned silence. "..well, say something you stupid bastard!" Val snapped crossly.

"…shit, you remind me of my mom when you're mad," Hopkins commented, leaning backwards a bit as he gulped. "Okay, look, I'm leaving in the old Skyranger in the hanger topside. Meet me in there, and we'll leave together, I promise," he told her, taking her hands in his. "I… I'm sorry Val. For everything."

Val shook her head as she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "You're a stupid man, to be sure," she told him. "But you should be glad that you are my stupid man." Hopkins smiled bashfully as they separated, with him stopping her from leaving.

"I'm just about done taking what I need," he told her. "Umm, you might want to do the same," he added, pointing at their first core. Val sighed and nodded, taking it in her scaled hands as Gabe left to some other part of the ship. Her human had been agitated for the past month, and after that disastrous mission he had come back from a week ago, there had been almost no way to stand him for more than a couple of hours at a time before she had to leave. But now? Something about him seemed… different.

Shaking her head clear of those thoughts, Valerie quickly went and erased her more recent works from her terminal's hard drive before gathering her papers and leaving the office. Half an hour later, Val left her office, quickly making her way past various staff members before entering the hanger. The Skyranger was easy to find, it being the only craft present that was still very firmly rooted in the aesthetics of the Old World. Painted a dull, light grey, the craft had newly installed ADVENT vector-thrust engines, a small magnetic cannon under its chin, and a pair of small, stubby wings for external ordinance.

Or at least, that was what she had learned from the last staff meeting from the chief aviation mechanic.

All around its ramp, the surviving members of Phoenix Squad were putting equipment and supplies into the craft, all of them fully kitted and armored. "Ah, Valerie, what are you doing here?" Churro asked as he caught sight of her, a crate in his hands. Val smiled shyly as she shrugged.

"Gabe and I came to an understanding about his, uh, new transfer orders," she explained, omitting the fact that she knew that Gabe was more likely to run away at this point. Churro looked at his squad members, each of them listening in before turning back to her.

"Well, in that case, the two of you should be set," he said to her as he set the crate down inside. "But then again, we're coming with you." Valerie blinked in surprise.

"What."

Churro grinned excitedly as he pointed back at his teammates. "Hey, it's Boss Dog we're talking about here," he explained to her. "If he leaves, we leave with him. Besides, if I know anything about the implications of what exactly happened with that debrief of his earlier, then chances are, he's going to need all the help he can get," he added as another pair of soldiers stopped by. "Harris, Fitz, see if you can't get a couple extra boxes of shotgun shells from the quartermaster! Do it fast, copasetic?"

"Got it Sergeant!" Private Fitzgerald called out as he and the lone survivor of Bravo-5 hauled ass to the armory for the shells. Val looked over Churro.

"You seem to have taken to command well," she told him, slithering over to an empty chair in the Skyranger. Churro shrugged as he followed her in.

"Eh, the new kids know better than to disobey a guy who survived Tokyo," he replied, looking at Val with what looked like regret. "Plus, I don't think Boss told you this, but… I was the reason he got banged up the way he did." Seeing Val's curious expression, he decided to elaborate. "He and I were investigating a shrine while evac came for the rest Phoenix at Ark Hills. We ran into something, and I tried to grab my launcher to kill it, y'know? Anyway, it saw me, and… Boss Dog took the hit for me." Churro looked outside the craft, the normally jovial Latino suddenly quiet. "I should have died Valerie, but instead, I almost got the closest thing I had to a padre killed."

"Well, I… James, please, I'm not mad at you," Valerie said after a moment, drawing a look from him. "My mate is stronger than you think he is. He's… far more than what ADVENT deserves, and I wouldn't change that for anything the Elders have." She paused to look down at her hands. "We helped him become something better. After all, he saved your teammates in the last mission, didn't he?"

"Well, he wouldn't quite call it that, knowing him, but sure," Churro agreed. "So, what you're saying is that, no matter what would happen, he would have become different?"

The Viper shook her head. "No, I'm just saying that Gabriel is a man of great will and drive," she said. "He loves his family, and you're all in it. I can guarantee that there is nobody on Earth who will fight for you more than him, other than yourselves of course." Churro would have continued on had Gabe not chosen that moment to reappear, with, of all individuals, Lupa and her pups in tow. He took one look at the assembled soldiers and groaned.

"Sergeant Ortega, the hell is going on here?" he asked, running a hand through his regrowing hair. Churro gave Val a look that clearly told her what his thoughts were before standing up.

"Well, we're getting the 'Ranger ready for ya Boss Dog," he explained, gesturing to the others finishing up the loading process. Gabriel gave his Sergeant a flat look of disbelief.

"And the reason you're in full gear?" he asked, Lupa silently walking over to enter the Skyranger with her pups. Churro chuckled nervously.

"Commander Harrington gave us a long range recon mission, said that the duration would be indefinite?" he fibbed, wilting under his commander's gaze. After a moment, Gabriel sighed and relaxed in resignation.

"And all of you want to do this?" he asked them. "You realize that if you come with me, you'll be branded the same as me, right?" Phoenix looked at one another as Fitz and Harris returned, shotgun shells in hand.

"Hell Sarge, after the shit-fest we got out of, ain't no way I'd follow anyone else!" Harris exclaimed, drawing a smile from Akula. Nods of agreement followed from the others.

"And no offense Command Sergeant, but you can't fly worth shit," Oddball declared, walking up to them, Chief in tow. Gabriel rolled his eyes as he caught sight of Valerie in the Skyranger.

"You are all the dumbest, most idiotic smartasses I've ever had the unholy fortune of being in command of," he said proudly. "Now get your asses on that bird, we've got twenty before security comes in here, and probably less than that for them to realize what we're doing!" he ordered. Immediately, they all scrambled into their places as Gabriel threw his overly large duffel bag into the aircraft, a pair of stuffed animals peeking out from one of the pockets. Giving his mate a thumbs up, Gabriel headed over to the armory, and when she saw him exit, Val saw that besides his newly minted particle weapon, he had his customized MAG rifle and… an exact copy of the sniper rifle he had been using, its alloy shell gleaming dully under the hanger's overhead lamps.

Suddenly, the lights to the hanger went red as the alarms went off. "Umm, okay, time to go!" Oddball cried out, rapidly prepping the Skyranger for flight. Val gasped in fright as she saw Tyler come through the door of the hanger, strips of duct tape still hanging off his uniform as several security members flanked him.

"HALT!" Tyler ordered angrily as Hopkins turned to look at him defiantly. "HOPKINS, STAY WHERE YOU ARE!"

Gabriel shook his head as he slipped his helmet on before making a mad dash into cover, loading a magazine with blue tape on the bottom into his MAG rifle. Tyler had a brief moment of fear on his face as he ducked behind the wing pylon of a dropship before Hopkins opened fire. The bullets did their job in suppressing the enemy forces as Oddball finished prepping the Skyranger.

"Old Dog, we are green for launch, and our window for exfil is closing fast!" Oddball shouted as the Skyranger began to hover in place. Gabriel slung his rifle back onto his shoulder mount before turning around and sprinting. Tyler got up and pulled out a sidearm, taking potshots at the fleeing human.

The Skyranger was almost completely out of the hanger when Hopkins made his jump for freedom.

Tyler had a clear shot. He pulled the trigger.

The bullet cracked through the air next to Hopkins' helmet as he landed on the ramp, the bullet landing in a box of supplies. Grabbing a ceiling rail, he turned back to look intently at Tyler before the ramp fully closed and Oddball fully gunned the throttle. In moments, they were miles away from the base, and Hopkins had at least started taking off his torso armor to better fit inside the cockpit. "Okay Oddball, I've got a heading for you," he said, sliding into the seat next to him.

"Okay, shoot," Oddball stated. And so the craft coasted through the jet stream, its passengers and crew coming to terms with their newly self imposed exile. For the two aliens, though neither of them knew it, it was because they loved the human that was in the copilot seat. For the soldiers, it was a simple matter of loyalty. And in Hopkins' case, it was to protect the very people in the craft, and in the base they had just left.

"Hey Sarge, since we're AWOL and all, umm, where does that leave us?" Banshee asked, gripping her restraint harness. Hopkins sighed as he addressed everyone present.

"Alright, since you asked so nicely Kitten, here's the situation as I know it," he explained, checking his instruments. "ADVENT, and by them, I mean the Elders, have something planned for humanity and everyone else in their grip that ain't good for our well being. You all know by now that the shit we saw in Alaska isn't normal, and that they were willing to wipe us out from revealing the truth. They know that Harrington is a potential threat to them as well."

"So, we're throwing off the scent, so to speak?" Lupa asked as he pups huddled closer to her. Hopkins gave her a thumbs-up.

"You betcha," he answered. "Everyone knows the Administration hates my guts anyway, so obviously, if I go traitor, it's no skin off the kid's back because everyone would expect it to have happened anyway. Now, we will not be getting any support from the kid, so as of now, we are currently on our own. ADVENT will be hunting us down, and we need to hit them back however and whenever we can."

"So we're fighting them to protect the planet? That doesn't make any sense!" Harris cried out. Akula shrugged.

"Welcome to being on the run," the Russian commented as he looked at the rookie. "Besides, this will make you tougher."

It was hours later that they all finally landed in a heavily wooded area, with Hopkins grabbed his rifle with a spring in his step. "Gabe, you okay?" Val asked him, stretching her tail out while the pups snored softly by Lupa's side. Gabriel nodded as he slid a fresh magazine into the weapon.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he told her as he moved to the now lowering ramp. "I just need to get the door open for you guys, and then you can come in." Before she could question him further, Gabriel had already disappeared into the darkening night. Sighing, she closed the ramp and lay down close to the furry Hound and her pups.

"So, where do you think Boss went?" Akula asked, nodding to the door. The others all decided to quietly debate the whereabouts of their Command Sergeant Major, and their voices soon lulled Valerie to sleep. When she next woke up, it was the crackle of Gabriel talking on the Skyranger's radio.

"Okay Oddball, bring her in nice and slow, and watch your sides, the hanger here hasn't been used in a while, over," he said as Oddball brought the craft around, looking for any sign of a hanger.

"What hanger? All I see are shrubs and dirt and a giant ass hole in the… Old Dog, didn't you just get us out of a murderous hole in the ground?" Oddball asked flatly, steering the bird in closer to the gaping black hole in the ground.

"Yes, but don't worry, this place is clean.I know that nothing's happened here for years," Hopkins replied. The soldiers and lone civilian shared looks of doubt as Oddball landed the Skyranger inside the dark hanger bay. Stepping out, the first thing that creeped Valerie out was the sheer stillness of everything inside. Faintly from the setting sun and starlight she could see vague shapes of heavy equipment, and a doorway where Gabriel was leaning against, smiling at them conspiratorially. "This way everyone, we've got a lot to get through," he said, waving them over.

The troops all turned on their night vision, and slowly, they made their way through the doorway and into the facility proper. One short tunnel later, and they emerged into an empty room littered with computer terminals and a strange apparatus in the center. "The hell is this place Gabriel?" Valerie asked, concerned. Gabriel merely smiled as he looked at them all, grabbing a switch breaker.

"Boys and girls, as the current ranking officer of this facility, let me be the first to welcome you here," he said flinging the breaker up. In moments, the powerful hum of the base's HVAC system kicked, as well the whirr of several dozen computer terminals, and the strange machine quickly flickered to life as a blue globe materialized from a series of holographic projectors scattered around the room. But what drew Valerie's eyes, and the eyes of everyone else, was the inverted pentagon hung proudly on the wall behind the now spinning holo-globe, the large 'X' bringing attention to the two words atop it.

Vigilo Confido.

"Phoenix Squad, welcome to XCOM."

[][][]

A/N: This chapter has been a long time coming for me honestly.Between my job, my… intense dislike of political machinations, and work ethic, this chapter took longer than most to get done.But, it serves well as being roughly the end of Phoenix Squad's time in the 77thHVG, and really, now that they've left, I can almost happily assure you that updates mightbe a little more frequent.

This also was, in a way, therapeutic for me.I won't say why, but just know that writing this chapter helped me deal with some issues I have in real life, and leave it at that.

So, this currently ends the first arc of 'Humanity Rising: Phoenix Reborn.'The next chapter, 'Communications,' will be posted hopefully before the end of the year.

I want to thank any loyal readers for sticking around with this story for as long as it did, and to continue supporting the efforts of Vantage77 and spartanrex10, because really, without them, this story wouldn't exist.Please comment and review down below, and if you want to help out in making this story better, I'm always ready for your input in the form of a PM.